Answer: Mg(OH)2 + 2 HCl → MgCl2 + 2 H2O
Explanation: To balance a chemical equation, we need to ensure that the same number of atoms of each element is present on both sides of the equation.
In this chemical reaction, we have magnesium hydroxide (Mg(OH)2) and hydrochloric acid (HCl) as the reactants, which react to form magnesium chloride (MgCl2) and water (H2O) as the products. To balance this equation, we start by checking the number of atoms for each element on both sides of the equation.
For magnesium (Mg), we have 1 atom on the left and 1 atom on the right.
For hydrogen (H), we have 2 atoms on the left and 2 atoms on the right.
For chlorine (Cl), we have 1 atom on the left and 2 atoms on the right.
For oxygen (O), we have 2 atoms on the left and 2 atoms on the right.
To balance the equation, we can adjust the coefficients in front of each compound until the number of atoms is the same on both sides.
For example, we can start by placing a coefficient of 2 in front of hydrochloric acid to balance the number of chlorine atoms. This gives us:
Mg(OH)2 + 2 HCl → MgCl2 + H2O
Now we can see that we have 2 hydrogen atoms on the left and 2 hydrogen atoms on the right, and 2 chloride atoms on the right as well. However, we have 2 hydroxide (OH) groups on the left and only 1 on the right. To balance this, we can multiply magnesium chloride by 2:
Mg(OH)2 + 2 HCl → 2 MgCl2 + 2 H2O
Now the equation is balanced with the same number of atoms on both sides, so this is our final balanced equation.